This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
It is generally well known to provide dispensers for sheets of materials (such as tissues and wipes), where the sheets are folded and interleaved to permit pop-up dispensing by manually pulling each sheet individually from a stack of sheets retained for storage in a container (such as a box or the like). However, one disadvantage of such known dispensers is that the top wall, because of the opening disposed thereon, can not be used in full because of the opening disposed thereon.
Another disadvantage is that the next to be dispensed sheet is always exposed to the environment, hence collecting dust and other particles, until it is pulled for use. By the time it is used it may have been exposed for a prolonged period of time so as to compromise its cleanliness relative to the sheets still retained inside the box.
Typically, in such known pop-up dispensers the next to be dispensed sheet is maintained in a position protruding from the box for ease of removal from the box. To achieve this, a plastic covering is employed over the opening in the top wall which covering contains a slit to help prevent the tissue from dropping back into the tissue box. Even with the use of such a slit, it is common for a large portion of the next to be dispensed sheet to protrude beyond the slit. Moreover, even with use of such a slit, it is not uncommon for the next to be dispensed sheet from falling into the box.
Another disadvantage in the prior art tissue boxes or tissue dispensers is that they are designed for use horizontally, i.e., a tissue dispenser or a tissue box is placed on the surface horizontally, for example, on a desk surface, a counter top in a kitchen or bathroom, etc., and the tissues disposed in the dispensers or in the boxes when used are pulled upward. The placing of the tissue dispensers on a horizontal surface as mentioned takes away the horizontal space that would otherwise be used for placing or storing other items whose access to is more important to a user. To be sure, for house and office uses recessed tissue dispenser has been made to solve this horizontal storage problem. Inserted into a vertical wall, recessed tissue dispenser is designed to position a tissue box whose top wall, which is the wall having an opening for tissues to be dispensed, is flush with the vertical wall. For dispensing, a waiting tissue is pulled straight out of the top wall following by the next waiting tissue, which is partially protruded out of the box. One drawback of the recessed tissue dispenser is that a hole must be made inside a wall, which is at least equal to the dimension of the top wall of the tissue box, hence damaging to the wall in which the tissue dispenser is inserted. Another draw back of the recessed tissue dispenser of\the prior art is that a recessed area is not reversible without some minor, if not major, repairing to the wall if the user no longer desires to position a tissue box at that location. Another drawback of the recessed tissue dispenser is a requirement of the vertical wall having a depth at least equal to the depth of the tissue box housed inside the tissue dispenser. Another drawback of the recessed tissue dispenser is that it requires a user having some handyman skill and the right tools in order to drill a hole and properly attach the hardware associated with the setup.
Tissue box and tissue dispenser are also used in a car. Tissue box is generally disposed on a seat inside a car, mostly on the front, passenger seat, on the front dashboard, on the back area behind the back seats, and on the floor. The prior art also discloses attaching tissue dispenser to several locations inside the car in order to solve the storage and access problems. For example, the prior art discloses the use of the space or location within a car to hold a tissue dispenser, including the visor area, the cup holder area, the dashboard area, and the glove box's interior. A drawback to these tissue dispensers is that they take away space or employ important space that is designed by car maker for a specific purpose, for example, the glove box's interior is used for storage personal items; the cup holder is for holding beverages for the convenience of driver and the passenger; the visor for blocking the sun and the dashboard not to mention safety issue from having a tissue dispenser thereon.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide one or more systems and methods for dispensing sheets of material that overcomes one or more of the drawbacks of the conventional devices for dispensing sheets of material.